A Question for a Queen
by justonemoreartist
Summary: The visiting Princess of Corona has a question to ask of Queen Elsa, one that the supposedly retired regent is happy to help answer. The "OC" here is the deleted character of the regent. Based off of a prompt. Contains no explicit pairings.


**Author's Note:** Based off of a prompt wherein Rapunzel seeks Elsa's guidance on what it means to be queen. Introducing a character deleted from the original draft of the movie; the regent, who would have served in Elsa's stead between the years when her parents were lost at sea and when she came of age.

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><p><strong>A Question for a Queen<br>**

Louis' knock was light, but determined. "Your Majesty?"

"Come in," the queen called from within her office. Her characteristic hesitation before speaking was slowly but steadily shrinking over time. He doubted she would ever acquiesce to her sister's wish to leave her door open so that Princess Anna might waltz in at any given time, but they were making strides. Things were definitively better than they had been years ago, at least.

He opened the door and motioned the small woman in before him. Princess Rapunzel sent him a quick smile over her shoulder as she stepped forward. Louis closed the door behind him automatically, and almost laughed when the lock clicked. Elsa wasn't the only one who needed retraining.

"Oh Louis," Elsa said, not looking up, her shoulders slumped under the weight of two tall stacks of papers that perched at either end of her desk, giving her the look of a woman caged by paper. It wasn't entirely inaccurate. She had a smaller arrangement of papers in the middle of the desk trapped beneath her elbows as she rubbed her temples. Some of the papers had spilled onto her lap. "I don't know how you managed this for years."

"It helps to have managed a business beforehand," he said, picking up a chair that had been placed against the wall and bringing it in front of the desk. Elsa eyed it oddly; Louis had complained often enough about preferring being on his feet when discussing things with her versus sitting in chairs like an errant schoolboy that it obviously confused her. Her confusion and surprise grew, her eyebrows rising slightly, as her Royal Highness, Princess Rapunzel of Corona, took her seat there while Louis leaned against the side of the desk.

It creaked. He glared at it and shifted his bulk to the side. First his favorite vest had burst a button, and now this? Shoddy craftsmanship, the whole lot of it.

"Oh," Elsa said, glancing between Louis and Princess Rapunzel. She dropped her hands to the desk, stared at her elbows, and guiltily withdrew her arms from the top of the desk. "I'm sorry, your Highness, I wasn't aware you were here," she said, unnecessarily, shooting Louis another glance, "but I see you've met our past regent, Louis Conrad de Konigh. I trust he has been showing you around the palace…?"

"And the town," Louis offered. Elsa hmmm'ed in response.

Princess Rapunzel nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yes; it's been so much fun! I never really appreciated how different things could be in different countries; I've only ever 'been' to places in books, so seeing the town was…" She sighed, her smile both wide and a perfect fit for her face, her green eyes lit up with the happiness of a traveler who had discovered gold on her travels. "And the palace itself! It's just…well, I've been inside another palace before, but this one just seems enormous!"

Elsa lifted the papers that had fallen into her lap and placed them gently on the desk, not looking at the other woman. "Sometimes it seems too large," she answered quietly. Not for the first time, Louis wished he could banish that dark, tired look that washed over her face, the one that seemed imprinted upon her bones. She swallowed, frowning at her hands, and then looked up. "I'm sorry, I….was there anything you needed from me? I thought that business was to go through the ambassador, so you'll forgive my surprise."

Now it was the princess' turn to fiddle with her hands, or rather, with her dress. Louis had noticed she had a tendency to wrap her hands around parts of her dress whenever she was upset or nervous. The emotion stood out on her normally cheerful face like red paint smeared over a finely embroidered pillow, a stain that had no business being there.

It struck him, just then, that the princess being unhappy was just as out of place as the queen being happy.

"It's…it's just that I wanted to talk with you," Princess Rapunzel admitted. "Alo-well. Maybe not alone, since Louis is nice."

"Mr. de Konigh," she added hastily, but Louis laughed and just pulled his pipe from his jacket. Elsa's expression hardly changed much at the sight of it; he knew she didn't approve of his habit, but Hell's bells! He was old and fat and lazy and without work now; he might as well have something to do. Besides drinking, of course.

"What did you wish to discuss?" Elsa asked, returning her attention to her royal cousin.

Princess Rapunzel took in a deep breath, held it, looked away, looked back at her, and released it slowly. She took another breath, and on the exhale released a stream of words with barely any pauses in between: "I was wondering if you'd tell me how it is you act like a queen because I have no idea what it even means to be a princess and I just needed someone to talk to about having that kind of responsibility because every time I ask the q-my mother about it she just talks about duty and I don't understand what she means so I was hoping you could help me."

She bit her lip and leaned back in her chair, fingers twisting around a part of her dress. "If that's okay."

Elsa was left quiet, but not the kind of quiet that meant she was unwilling to answer. Louis had had several years to understand her different silences, and could pick out a pensive one from one drenched in melancholy in seconds. It helped that Agdar had confided in his friend on the subject of his eldest child for years after he'd been let in on the secret, one of those rare few who understood why the gates had been closed and locked for so long.

The queen threaded her fingers together as she settled them over her papers, watching the princess. Though the latter had immediately found a kindred spirit in the queen's younger sister, the sight of them walking arm in arm not an uncommon one as both chattered to one another like excited birds, the queen and her cousin had a different relationship. It was one that was, like many of Elsa's relationships, characterized by timidity on her part and interest and hopefulness on theirs.

But Princess Rapunzel brought one more thing to the table: understanding, an emotion born of years locked away and years yearning for escape, tempered by the knowledge that there existed a world beyond that of mere sight and smell and touch, one that glittered with magic and power, and tinged with that lingering regret that divided the two of them. The one, who had spent years hating her powers, and the other who was now mourning its loss.

The queen's knowledge of her cousin's power, of her story, had piqued her interest, but in a way that set her to watching the Coronan princess in place of speaking to her. Perhaps she feared disturbing her view of the other woman, or perhaps it was the opposite.

"That's…that's a very broad question, isn't it?" she said, her words tiptoeing across the gulf between them.

"I guess what I really want to know is…what does it mean to be a queen?" Princess Rapunzel asked. "I just…I grew up thinking I was 'just Rapunzel', and when I found my, um, my real family I found out that I'm also a princess and…I don't know what to do with that. And my parents are getting older…" She sighed, letting go of her dress. The king and queen of Corona, as Louis recalled, were only in their late forties; hardly old, especially when compared to his own generous years, but he knew that many letters had been exchanged between the late queen of Arendelle and her sister-in-law on the subject of their children, both absent and present. Ink spilled over worry and fear had a way of aging the author beyond their young body.

He preferred his jenever. Might as well age in the best way possible, through rampant vice and flagrant abuse of alcohol and smokes.

"To be queen," Elsa began, and paused. She stared into space for some time, eyes unfocused as she gathered her thoughts. "To be queen is to be a servant of the people, subject to the same laws as they, while at the same time remembering that you act upon a level above them. Your responsibility is to lead, both literally and through example. Your duty-" She glanced at Rapunzel, who seemed to wilt at the word, and for a moment the side of Elsa's mouth twitched. "Your duty is to protect the interests of both Crown and country…and you will be unfortunately amazed at how often those two are at odds," she finished with a drawn out sigh.

Her cousin frowned at this. "How would that happen? If the Crown and the country are the same-"

"Oh, but they're not, you see," Louis said happily as he withdrew his box of matches from his breast pocket. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the queen flinch in disgust. "The Crown operates above the people even as it is bound by them; what is good for the goose is not always good for the gander, eh?" He chuckled, taking out a match.

In front of him, the princess sighed. "I guess I don't understand." Her dress was starting to grow very wrinkled as her hands worked it. The queen watched her do so silently, her face unusually soft.

Louis struck the match against the small tin, ignoring both women as they recoiled at the scent that soon followed. "Perhaps an example will help," he offered, dipping the flaming match into the end of his pipe.

It fizzled out instantly. He glared at the small amount of ice covering the tobacco and lifted a bushy eyebrow at the queen. She was now looking out the window, innocent as a bird. He stuck the pipe in his mouth anyways.

"Let's presume, in this example, that you're queen, and you have neither husband nor parents to share your power with, eh?" he said, the pipe fitting perfectly into the notch in his teeth and obscuring his words only a little. The princess watched it move as he spoke and nodded when he stopped.

"A man is brought before your court. The family that brings him in lays at his feet a crime of a heinous nature. They have served the Crown well in the past, and are both well-bred and very rich, while the man is of no known heritage. They demand his life for what he's done. What do you do?"

He tilted his head at the queen. "Your Majesty…?"

She turned back with an unamused look. "I thought this question was for the princess."

"She wants to know how a queen would answer; you are a queen, therefore, you may answer as well," he said, trying not to sound prissy about it. He thought he did fairly well in that endeavor.

"That's gratitude for you," Elsa muttered, dashing his poor, failing heart in one stroke, waving her hand when Princess Rapunzel cocked her head and opened her mouth. She brought her hands together, her index fingers covering her lips as she thought.

"If they have served the Crown well in the past, then I would return their trust with my own, and deliver the man into their hands to receive his just punishment," she answered. "He is their affair, and not mine."

Princess Rapunzel looked sharply between Louis and the queen. "But…what did the man even do?"

"Something hypothetically heinous," Louis said with a jovial smile.

"But…" She seemed to be struggling to put her concerns into words, though they were written all over her face in downturned lips and wide, upset eyes. "How…if I'm supposed to protect my people, how can I hand them over to be hurt by others? And I don't even know what he did…what if he's changed?" she said, begging them with her eyes to consider this possibility.

"People don't really change…" Elsa began to say, but for once the princess cut her off.

"Yes they do!" She seemed almost indignant, and the queen blinked, shifting backwards in her seat. "People change all the time. People who you think are bad can be sweethearts when you get to know them, and people who are…close to you can be…very different, at times. How could I say that this man is and forever will be a bad man?"

"Does it matter whether he can change?" Elsa asked. The question didn't sound rhetorical, coming from her, but rather a woman wondering aloud if she'd made the right choice. "What's done is done. Should he not receive justice?"

Princess Rapunzel made a frustrated noise. "What's the point of justice if it just makes things worse?"

"How does it make things worse in this situation?" Louis asked, now intrigued. He had expected her Highness to be confused and naïve, and her foolish optimism was of course in character, but the fierceness of her response was not something he had foreseen. "You are rewarding the family with what they want and fulfilling justice at the same time."

"…by taking his life away," Rapunzel said in a soft and tired voice. She was not looking at them. "When he might have become a better person. By giving up on him, just so that others can have their revenge. By…by saying that his whole life depends upon one moment, one that he can never atone for, because now it's too late."

There was a silence that fell over the three of them that felt brittle and tense, with neither woman looking each other in the eye as Louis chewed on his pipe. The princess, who had said her piece, didn't say any more, but her words echoed in the small room and grew larger with every rebound and he could sense the queen shudder internally as they scoured old wounds.

"A fair point," Louis conceded quietly, when the queen made no move to speak, instead staring at her lap with an expression of remorse and pain. "Perhaps you'd like to choose to pardon him?"

Princess Rapunzel jerked her head up. "I can do that?"

Louis nodded. "You could. It would, however, cost you."

"How can forgiveness cost anything?" she asked, startled. "It's…it's forgiveness. It's supposed to make everything better."

"Depending upon how your people see you, it will either be hailed as a wise-" he held up one finger on his left hand "-or a weak decision." He held up a finger on his right hand. "And sometimes depending on what different factions there are…" He crossed the fingers, biting back a laugh when the princess's brows pinched together in imitation of the movement.

"Now you can see how the Crown and the country may not have the same interests? The country, or the public, is interested in themselves and their livelihood, and that depends upon the security, sanity, and power that the Crown provides. The Crown, on the other hand, is interested in maintaining and solidifying its power, and that depends upon the whims of the people and how they perceive the Crown. A populace that mistrusts the power of the Crown is one prone to drudgery, mischief, and even outright revolt; if they cannot have faith in their God-given rulers, then they will elect other leaders in their stead, through whatever means necessary. Therefore, at times, the Crown may act against the people in order to protect itself and its reputation. A weak ruler is one who invites all sorts of plagues into one's country, and must be eliminated."

Good Heavens, she'd made him monologue. And to think he'd promised himself not to do that anymore, not when the queen was since grown and making decisions for herself.

"But it's the same action," Princess Rapunzel said.

"Yes," he said, leaning forward, "but the reputation that proceeds the action will determine how it is viewed. If you have established a rapport with the people, if you have demonstrated your power, cunning, and diplomacy, then you will be hailed as a merciful ruler who grants life when others would have taken it. If you have no interaction with the people, if they do not know you and have not seen your actions to bear fruit, then your pardoning of an evil man to avoid getting blood on your hands is clearly the actions of a sniveling fool who ought not be queen."

"Unless there is a third option," the queen said. Both of them turned toward her with equal expressions of interest.

"Exile."

"Exile," she continued, "under the threat that if he ever returns to this land, he will be given over to the family that accused him."

Louis turned his gaze upon the princess, who was turning this idea over quietly. Judging by her face it didn't quite suit her needs, but he suspected that there was nothing that would have and yet would remain feasible. It was one of the hardest lessons to swallow, the realization that justice, kindness, and protecting others did not always perfectly coincide. It was something the queen had learned many years ago, back when she was small enough that her father had to bend to pet her hair affectionately, and perhaps this was why she didn't struggle so with the notion that there was no correct answer.

On the other hand, her seclusion had resulted in a tendency to choose that option that would cause the least amount of harm in the long run, whether it was just or not. Queen Elsa had demonstrated on an incredible scale her ability to shape her country, but when it came to the power of the Crown she tended towards conservatism and following the teachings of her parents and Louis himself.

And now the help of a younger sister. It explained some of the queen's more recent decisions, ones that favored leniency to stone-faced adherence to the law.

"I…I guess if that's the best choice…? Although…" Princess Rapunzel looked at Louis. "If your reputation and how the people see you matters, shouldn't you be out and about more often?"

"Of course," Louis said instantly. Bless her heart. Beside him, Elsa was straightening in her chair as she came to a sudden realization.

"So…wouldn't it help you, your Majesty, to see the people?" Princess Rapunzel asked, like Louis had hoped she would. The queen was not surprised by the question, but her mouth opened without answering anyways.

"I…" she said. The "…am afraid" was unspoken, and perfectly audible to Louis, but when the queen turned her eyes on her cousin she saw reflected in them that knowledge as well, and something in her demeanor shifted from hesitance to an acceptance tinged with hope.

Rapunzel's lips curled into a sheepish little grin. "I guess you're not really sure what it means to be queen, either…?"

Elsa tried to hold back her smile, but it slid across her face and settled into place there, brightening it considerably. She let out a small chuckle. "I guess not. Louis has been queen longer than I have, besides."

"And my, what a queen I've been," Louis said, batting his eyes at the pair, which made the two women laugh together. Their laughter matched perfectly.

"And what a day it's been, and will be, if the two of you are quick about it," he continued. "Now up," he said, making shooing motions at the queen, who simply raised her eyebrows at him and stood with all the grace of a monarch who was being ejected from her own office. "Oh don't give me any funny looks, I'm setting you free."

"I think Mr. de Konigh is trying to be subtle," Elsa said as she came around the desk. She stopped in front of Princess Rapunzel's chair and regarded the girl with her head slightly tilted.

"He's not very good at it," Princess Rapunzel said, biting down on her grin, "but that's okay, we like him anyways, right?"

Elsa's smile grew. "Right."

The princess popped up from her chair and slipped her arm around one of the queen's; if the other woman was startled she hid it well. Or maybe she wasn't; her sister had employed the same trick often enough, so maybe she had grown used to it. Whatever the case was, if he had expected Elsa to stiffen and lean away, he was instead pleased to find that her other hand came to cover her cousin's arm lightly, the reconciliatory gesture raising the princess's spirits.

"Well, would you like to work on your reputation today…?" she asked the queen.

"If the paperwork can wait…?" Elsa said, tone rising at the end as she turned to see Louis struggling to fit himself into the chair. It made a noise that sounded dangerous but held, and he scooted himself right up to the desk until his belly would allow him no further.

"Of course it can! That's why it's paperwork, and not wordwork; it's written down. Now run along and pla-excuse me." He dropped his elbows on the table and stroked his chin. "'Work on your reputations', your Majesties."

"Will do," Elsa said as the two of them left. She forgot to close the door on the way out. Not a bad thing, usually, but…

He waited until the pair of them had left him behind before he fished his pipe out of his mouth.

"Keep me from smoking, will you?" he muttered as he banged the pipe against the side of the desk, dislodging the ice within it. A quick nip into the tobacco pouch in his pants pocket and back for the matches and he was finally comfortable. He lifted one of the sheets, peering at it, and then his gaze rose over the edge of the paper and towards the open door. The sounds of the young women conversing and laughing together was fading, but he knew both would return in much better spirits, with stories to tell and bonds to be strengthened through mutual respect and affection.

He returned his gaze to the paperwork. He was old and grey and happy, and there was little else to wish for.


End file.
